Posts by Steph Clarke

Margaret Harris of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital attended this evening and told us of an initiative her colleague Antony Cobley has been putting into place at the hospital. Fresh food stalls and fruit trees planted in the hospital grounds – here she tells us more…

Some comments paraphrased from the floor in response to the previous presentations

“I applied to open a eco friendly vegetarian coffee shop in birmingham and we lost to property and now we’re going to get another kebab shop. What would help the most is knowing who to go to who to talk to in the council to make eco and green projects happen. “

“Planning is a difficult area – but we have managed to turn down applications for fast food shops in Birmingham – and we’re going to have the healthy choices scheme to help shops who want to offer healthier choices.”

“Part of the scandal is price differential in areas – Tesco price more at shops that people walk to than the ones we drive to yet the gain PR by giving to food banks!”

This cause of food poverty is, quite simply, a general one of financial hardship, with food or heating being the choice people were often forced to make over winter.

Food Banks offer more than just food, they offer a listening ear, time and signposted to other services – but food costs have risen dramatically in last few years – faster than all other commodities so is it ant wonder that use of Food Banks have risen.

People are spending more on food but actually leaving the shops with less. – People often don’t need much help, about 65% of people need one off support in a 6month period.

Charlotte is a foodbank user who was in foster care – when she moved but of care she struggled, going hungry with no support from other services. Without a Food Bank she doesn’t know what she would have done.

How can we expect people to afford living costs when 1 in 5 are not paid living wage?

These are my notes from Table 2 at the Elliott Review Birmingham event exploring exploring what Birmingham can do to tackle food crime. At this table are representatives from a cross section of people from the food industry, retailers, restaurateurs, academics etc. The question they’re discussing is:

These are my notes from Table 2 at the Elliott Review Birmingham event exploring exploring what Birmingham can do to tackle food crime. At this table are representatives from a cross section of people from the food industry, retailers, restaurateurs, academics etc. The question they’re discussing is:

Imagine it’s April 2017 and there is NO food crime anymore – What does the ideal scenario look like?